Back to 80: My Literary Life

Bei Dao was a little confused by this sudden blow, and his face was a little uneasy, but he quickly retorted: "I never think that I represent an era. Poets should speak for themselves with their works. I think my truly good works are yet to come."

"Come on..." Wan Xia laughed with a face, but suddenly became serious again: "I am not sensationalizing. As we all know, Mengwu poetry used undercurrents in that turbulent era, the distortion of words, the obscurity of images, and the looming symbols... …”

"Because of this, it was also "forced" to form a hazy style and ethereal poetic flavor - just like Ruan Ji's chanting poems and Li Shangyin's untitled poems are not deliberately obscure, but behind the poets there is uncontrollable great sorrow and helplessness. The dark forces are everywhere.”

"But..." Wan Xia's tone increased: "As the saying goes, "Success is Xiao He, Xiao He is failure." When this situation no longer exists, Mengwu poetry has lost its footing to a certain extent and has become a self-talk. language game."

“In fact, obscurity leads to multiple meanings, ambiguities are everywhere, and opinions are divided. The strength of speech and the sharpness of judgment are not as powerful as a precise strike like a direct attack. Those who wait and see, painting a tiger cannot be the opposite of a dog, and it has become a fraud in the contemporary poetry world. The origin of the big and empty poetry styles.”

The expressions of the poets sitting under the banner changed drastically, and Bei Dao fell into silence.

Although Wan Xia was a little rude at first, his words were well-founded and pointed directly at the crux of Menglong's poetry.

This is indeed the fatal flaw of Misty Poetry, including the song "Daydream" that Bei Dao read just now. As soon as it was published in the magazine, it immediately attracted criticism that it was too stream of consciousness and incomprehensible.

There was a hint of pride on Wan Xia's face, and a group of Sichuan poets around him were even more delighted. However, Shang Zhongmin seemed silent. He was not looking at Bei Dao and the others opposite him, but secretly looking at Fang Minghua on the rostrum.

Fang Minghua looked silent.

Today we are just invited guests, just like the leaders sitting on the stage, they are spectators.

"Down with Bei Dao! PASS Shu Ting!" A young man next to Wan Xia suddenly stood up, raised his arms and shouted!

More than a dozen poets from Shu Province immediately shouted slogans

"Fight to Beidao! PASS Shu Ting!"

The expressions of several leaders on the stage changed drastically.

Bai Hang quickly stood up and asked everyone to stay calm and restrained. It's okay to discuss and argue, but don't put big names on others, let alone say such outrageous things.

But this group of young Shu poets had become excited, and their long-planned preparations finally broke out at this moment.

Are we shouting this slogan against the two poets?

No, no, your knowledge is too superficial.

We want to overthrow the hazy poetry that "dominates" the domestic poetry scene represented by Bei Dao and Shu Ting!

Things got louder and louder, and the room was filled with various sounds. Suddenly, someone yelled: "Wan Xia!"

Wan Xia was feeling proud when he suddenly heard someone shouting his name. He looked up and saw Fang Minghua sitting on the podium.

Oops

From Ge Laozi.

I was planning to talk to you just now, but I didn’t expect you to come to my door?

"Fang Minghua, what's going on? Do you want to help Bei Dao and Shu Ting?" Wan Xia spoke Mandarin with a strong Sichuan accent.

Fang Minghua did not answer directly, but just stared at him: "Wan Xia, the year before last, that is, in the spring of 1984, our "Yanhe" magazine published a "special issue on college student poetry" "In the Mirror" written by Zhang Zao and Hu Dong My poem "I Want to Take a Slow Boat to Paris" was selected by me, and all the poems written by Shang Zhongmin, you and others were rejected. Do you still remember this?!"

When Wan Xia heard this, he became very angry.

shame!

It’s not him personally, but Fang Minghua’s denial and contempt for the concept of colloquial writing promoted by poets like himself!

To this end, Shang Zhongmin even went to Xijing and had a public argument with Fang Minghua in the West Auditorium.

Now hearing that Fang Minghua's old story was brought up again, Wan Xia immediately hit back: "Fang Minghua, if you have the ability, can you argue with me today?!!"

"The debate will be put at the back for now." Fang Minghua smiled: "Do you dare to read the poem called "Woman" that you submitted in front of everyone?!"

"I" Wan Xia was suddenly stunned.

He dared not read.

It was an impulsive work of his, and it was also a bit playful and rebellious when he sent it to "Yanhe".

Aren’t you against some spoken poetry and advocating the beauty of some poetry?

Do you think this poem I wrote is beautiful?

Fang Minghua saw the other party like this and sneered: "What? Wan Xia, do you dare to write and submit for publication? Don't you dare to read it yourself? Do you feel guilty?!"

"Why don't you dare?!" Wan Xia was immediately irritated. "Guilty? What a joke? If I dare to write, I dare to read!" After that, he read aloud.

"You are soft curls and soft underbelly

You are dirty. Public toilets are complete excretory systems.

You are a suddenly swollen Adam’s apple and a hard stubble

You are the milk stains on your chest, your sloppy clothes, and your colorful diapers.

Before Wan Xia finished reading, there was an uproar in the venue. Many young women turned red with anger and glared at Wan Xia.

"Rogue!" A girl couldn't help but yelled loudly.

Wan Xia quickly explained that I was not insulting women. Women here are just a representation, characterized by pursuing the original ecology of life...

But who among the girls will listen?

"Get out of here, gangster!"

"Take him to the police station!"

The scene suddenly became chaotic.

The girls from Sichuan Province were quite tough, and they started fighting when they got up, which made Wan Xia run away in fear.

broken……

Shang Zhongmin and Hu Dong looked at each other and saw the helplessness in each other's eyes.

A good scene was ruined by Wan Xia's reckless acting!

Who will listen to what you say now?

This farce is finally over.

The poets on both sides calmed down and exchanged their opinions. Although there was still some tit-for-tat, they were no longer as manic as before.

After the poetry exchange meeting in the morning, in the evening, the poets went to Chengdu New Voice Theater to participate in activities. The 2,000-seat theater was packed with seats and there was a huge audience. The top ten poets all appeared on stage and received the honorary certificate of "China's Top Ten Young and Middle-aged Poets" from the chairman of the Sichuan Federation of Literary and Art Circles, followed by a theatrical performance. The host also creatively asked ten poets to come on stage and recite their famous poems.

Fang Minghua did not go.

Because Shang Zhongmin wanted to treat him to hot pot.

Shang Zhongmin graduated from a major last year and was assigned to work in the National Water Conservancy and Electric Power Cadres Department. He was originally in Yanjing, but he volunteered to be transferred to the Mechanical and Electrical Department of the Chengdu Electric Power Survey and Design Institute of the Ministry of Water and Power as an assistant engineer.

He said that he was warmly received by Fang Minghua when he went to Xijing last time, and now he wanted to return the invitation.

Fang Minghua had a good impression of Shang Zhongmin. Although his poems were different from his own, he did not go to extremes. What he valued was that a gentleman should be harmonious but different.

The place to treat guests is on Renmin South Road.

Although Renmin South Road is known as "Tianfu's No. 1 Road", it now has a green appearance, with low buildings next to it. There are not many vehicles on the street, and bicycles account for the majority, just like the streets of Xijing. .

But what is different from Xijing is that there are many young people sitting on the roadside, drinking beer and taking out various skewers from the aluminum pot. The smoke of honeycomb briquettes is mixed with the aroma of the bottom of the pot. The air is churning.

The two of them were sitting in a small hot pot restaurant.